Letter from Bill Akrill to his mother

Letter from Bill Akrill to his mother

Begins with catching up with news from home. Mentions not much chance of leave but that he has had photograph taken of himself. Writes that Brighton is change from previous locations and describes activities. Went to see an ice hockey match between England and Canada, which ended up in a fight. Will go to the skating rink with some of the other men.

Continues with news of training suspensions at Theale and describes how he felt when he fired a Vickers machine gun. Concludes with news that he has found a nice chapel and has made friends.

1942-02-28

Four page handwritten letter

IBCC Digital Archive

This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.

EAkrillWEAkrill[Mo]420228

No 1436220 L.A.C. Akrill.
“B” Flight No 1 Squadron.
A.C.D.W.
Hotel Metropole,
BRIGHTON.
Sat. 28.2.42.
Dear Mum,
Glad to get your letter the other day. I hadn’t had any for a long time. Had a very sympathetic one from Dave yesterday. Also one from Miss Mary. Her letters are a treat (so’s everybody else’s for that matter)
Glad to hear that Mrs. Baines is a lot better. I’d been wondering. Poor old souls they seem to be having a trying time.
Hope the carrots are done with now. Suppose your busy with spuds now. The weather up home doesn’t seem to be much good for anything else. Been very cold here but today’s been bright & sunny & much warmer.
Yes I told Dave I’d have 30 certs.
[page break]
I may as well. He seems very busy these days – Joint Secretary with Mr. Evans.
As for leave – it’s not very easily got and if I missed a posting through being on leave it might mean I’d be here for the duration. I agree it would do me a world of good but I don’t feel like coming home until I’m [underlined] doing [/underlined] something definite again. I shan’t begin to recover from my shock until I’ve proved myself as a navigator.
By the way I was walking by a Polyphoto place today & had a sudden impulse & burst of courage & walked in. It was a terrible ordeal but they’re going to send you the result in 3 weeks time so if there’s any you like I’ll get some enlargements for you. I’m afraid there won’t be as I felt like a scared rabbit & also had just had a nice prickly hair-cut.
Brighton’s a big change from Theale and
[page break]
dear old Aber. It’s a big place & very lively. Plenty of chocolate &c. I can get any amount of fags if Harry’s short. We saw an Ice-Hockey match between England & Canada this week. Very good but it ended up with a lovely free fight in which the referee was nearly murdered. I want to go to the Rink next week to try some skating when the boys go.
Brindle & 3 more of the Theale crowd arrived the other day. The C.F.I. has now suspended everyone – 13 in all. It’s quite obvious that someone decided that we were in the way & this was the best way out. Well they’ve lost the [underlined] Keenest [/underlined] fighter pilot they could have if nothing more.
I didn’t tell you about firing the Vickers’ Machine Gun. It was great!!!! I had 6 bursts – they were supposed to be short but once I’d got my finger pressed
[page break]
I didn’t feel like releasing it! Before I finished I gained great distinction by sending the whole target flying. Gosh was I bucked! We were trying to get the Sergeant to let us have a go with the Browning when we left.
I’ve found a very nice chapel here & already made friends. I’ve promised to speak at the Young People’s Service tomorrow & still don’t know what I’m going to talk about so I must leave off & think about it.
Love to Ros & Harry, Daddy & All.
[underlined] Bill [/underlined]
P.S. Guess the aconites have been a picture this afternoon if the sun’s been shining like this at home